Health and level of education go hand in hand among young Finnish adults

Only one in two 18-29-year-olds reported using a condom in casual sex

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By Hannele Tarkka-Tierala
     
      Young Finnish adults see themselves as relatively healthy specimens: just 12% of those 18-29-year-olds replying to a survey published on Thursday by the National Public Health Institute (Kansanterveyslaitos) declared their health was average or worse.
      The study indicated that health differences (or perceptions of them) between the various educational strata are already clear among young adults.
      Of those women and men with a university-level degree behind them or in progress, more than 92% regarded their health as good or pretty good, but among those who quit their studies at the minimum school leaving-age the figure was just below 75%.
     
The fact that there are considerable differences between social groupings in terms of behaviour and habits that are harmful to health makes it possible to predict that young adults in the worst-off groups will face major health problems as they grow older, according to the researchers.
      On the other hand, the variations in health among young adults in different parts of the country are not of any great significance.
     
"The health of Finnish children and young adults is extremely good, first-class by world standards. Many of our kids live as youngsters a good deal more respectably and decently than we did in our day", says Pekka Puska, the Director of the National Public Health Institute.
      As clouds on the horizon, however, he sees such features as smoking among the young, drunkenness and binge-drinking, "snack-driven" dietary habits, the increasing size of food portions at meal-times, and a general lack of exercise.
     
In sexual relations with persons other than a regular partner, only one in two respondents said they used a condom.
      Nearly all young adults drink alcohol, though in most cases it is only a couple of times a month.
      Alcohol-use has become more of the norm, in particular amongst the highest educational groups - though this change in weighting has nevertheless not reduced the incidence of drinking to get drunk.
      In the course of the year leading up to when they answered the questionnaire, at least 80% of the male respondents had had a hangover at least once, and 67% of the females had experienced this fate.
      In the case of the men, the average number of hangovers during the previous 12 months was 10, twice as many as among the women.
     
Some 35% of young Finnish men smoke daily, while for women the figure is 24%.
      Education plays a part here: the daily tobacco intake of those with a higher-level degree is only half of that in the lowest educational grouping.
     
One in four young Finnish adults said they suffered from some form of allergy. One in five young women have signs of serious depression, whereas among the men this was much less common: only one in 16.
      The study is based on material that was collected in 2001 as a part of Terveys 2000 (Health 2000), an interview/examination survey carried out from the autumn of 2000 to the following spring.
      A sample of 1,894 people represented those in the population aged 18 to 29 years; the most important data on health and functional ability were derived from 90% of respondents.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.10.2005


Links:
  National Public Health Institute
  Health 2000

HANNELE TARKKA-TIERALA / Helsingin Sanomat
hannele.tarkka-tierala@hs.fi